A Southern Missive

Amazon.com: Severance: Stories: Books: Robert Olen Butler
One of my favorite writers is Robert Olen Butler. I’ve read everything of his I can get my hands on, and when when I heard him interviewed on NPR this week about his new collection of stories, I knew I must obtain this one also.

I’ve always used Butler’s story, “Good Scent from a Strange Mountain” in the ENG 102 class I taught at the university here–that is, until the new edition of Kennedy saw fit to not include it. I was appalled that a Pulitzer Prize winner’s story could be so quickly removed from an anthology. And he wasn’t even dead yet! Not only was it a good story the publishers deleted, it was an important story that provides valuable insights into a now significant portion of the American, especially Louisianian, population.

I read the whole collection sometime ago. Through the years, I’ve encouraged my students to read Butler’s collection of short stories in Good Scent from a Strange Mountain in hopes they can see the things Butler sees.

Butler’s new collection, Severance is thematic, telling of 62 individuals who lost their heads (from the past and from recent news). The collection consists of 62 stories, with each story being exactly 240 words. In the NPR interview I mentioned, Butler explained his math: he quoted a French Doctor who theorized that a human retains consciousness that many seconds after decapitation and that when agitated a human can utter 160 words per minute.

It sounds like a fine read, and in typical Butler style, one that will be remembered.

I truly do have more writing work than I can get to. Yet, some things are progressing. A publisher is looking at my novel, Blood Diamonds of the Lost Bazaar, and I hope to soon have one look at another, Under the Witch’s Mark: A Memoir. Note: (This IS a fictional memoir!) I am still slowly working on my Civil War Western, the modern novel with a working title of Persephone’s Underground and others I don’t have time to mention at the moment. Perhaps next post I’ll make a list of all my writing ideas and projects.

For those teachers and writes who love vocabulary, here is a good site:
http://wordsmith.org

This afternoon, I was interviewed by Sunny Meriweather of KEDM, 90.3, which is the public radio station here in Monroe, Louisiana. The interview was recorded and will be broadcast Friday morning, October 20 at 8:30 a.m. and 12:50 p.m. We discussed my new book, Stories of the Confederate South, and the upcoming reading/book signing at the West Ouachita (pronounced wash-it-tah) Library in West Monroe at the Cheniere exit on I-20. Sunny had read my book, and gave it a favorable review, and in her typical professional fashion, asked excellent and relevant questions. Several of my Confederate friends intend to be there in their reenactor uniforms so that visitors can ask questions about their equipment and the life of a Confederate soldier in the War Between the States. As I’ve said before, I love doing readings. Readings give me an opportunity to really test my writing on an audience, as well as a chance to get my work into the hands of readers.